Rafa's presser ...

Aah ... clever old, wily Feds. Whilst for him, Rafa going public about Player Council meetings is not the thing to do and such stuff should be kept behind locker room doors, not so when it comes to him providing his unprovoked, public opinions about Rafa and the time he takes between points.

Why is that, Fed? You scheduled to meet him in the semi or something? Do you fancy sowing your seeds early in the umpires' minds? Do you fancy getting the media whipped up early on this subject? Do you not know Rafa well enough by now to have a quiet word with him about how you feel? Don't you have every opportunity ON THE COURT DURING A MATCH to complain to an umpire if it bugs you so much? And if you're not part of an actual match, what's it to you how long it takes to play a few points. Does the world at large have to play like you?

Does Rafa take too long between points? Yes. Should he stop it? Yes. Should he take his own responsibility to play within this particular rule? Yes. If he's unable to take responsibility for himself, shouldn't the umpire then step in and force him to do so? Yes.

But why finger Rafa, Feds? Did you elaborate to discuss the length of time Djokovic takes between points? No. Did you make reference to how many times he bounces the ball before choosing to serve? No. Did you bring JMDP into your press conference and discuss how long he takes to challenge? No. Did you mention the inordinate length of time he takes between points? No. Did you discuss how you use Hawkeye when you know full well that you're going to lose the challenge but press ahead and do so to slow things down or put your opponent off his rhythm? No. Did you discuss your own use of well timed toilet breaks? No.

Funny that.

Because Federer chose his own press conference to solely finger Rafa about his on-court time-keeping, it becomes a big piece of everything for the media. But there's some other stuff discussed ...